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Good Friend and Writing

It’s St. Valentine’s Day, which means most people think about love, flowers, chocolate and jewelry. I guess I should write a post about something to do with St. Valentine’s Day. Jewelry works. When I think of jewelry I think of a friend.

You know that friend you had as a kid that no one could figure out why you were friends? The outgoing, bubbly, fun to be with, energetic, non-geek to your introvert, dour, no one wanted to be with you, extreme geek that secretly watched Star Trek and Star Wars? (Okay, maybe not that secretively if you saw the posters on the back of my bedroom door. But those could be covered up.) That friend who you’ve known so long you don’t count the years because it makes you feel old?

My friend like that is named Rachael. She’s everything I’m not, which is good. Otherwise our teen years would have been spent in a library. That would have been boring. Well, not really, but we’ll pretend for Rachael’s sake. (Howdy, Rachael.) Ask anyone who knew us when we were young if they are surprised that Rachael is now in direct sales they would laugh and say “nope.” (I know. I’ve asked.) What does Rachael sale? Jewelry. Sparkling pretty things. (Which I assure you I am not trying to sale you.)

Anywho, Rachael is great at selling jewelry. Her business means Rachael has to be outgoing and friendly. After all, she does jewelry parties. (Supposedly these are parties where some woman has her friends over and Rachael sales jewelry.) Rachael came up with Blingo. That is a combo of Bingo and bling. She has a Facebook page where she gives fashion advice like “The color this year is orange. You should wear lots of orange.”

Rachael can create great graphics. She can put together a flier that makes even someone like me wonder for a moment if they might need the jewelry on the flier. After all, couldn’t this make you go “Hum, I think that I might like that piece?”

Here's a sample of Rachael's work.

What Rachael cannot do is write. Here is a direct quote from Rachael about one of the pieces in the graphic, the Midnight Sparkle Ring. “A ravishing ring with textured feathers, and royal blue, marquise cut sapphire crystal, overlay a larger marquise cut glittering sandstone. This Midnight Sparkle Ring has all the magic and wonder of a crisp night sky. You can almost see the stars twinkling in the sandstone.” (That’s a direct quote. See what I said about writing?)

Rachael obviously can’t write. Well, she can write, but it is dry and quite uninteresting. (I’m gonna duck real quick while Rachael throws something at me.) She’s always been to the point when writing. No imagination in her written words. This is almost impressive in a strange way, since Rachael can paint vividly. She can create wonderful graphics. As she talks she breathes life into the jewelry. But asking her to write about a piece it is a hopeless endeavor.

(Here’s where we circle back to writing.) Luckily for Rachael she happens to have a friend who loves to write.

“The stars sparkle at you from deep in the night sky as you stare into this beautiful ring. You can imagine yourself flying through the heavens, taking a right at the second star on the left. Your dreams soar high while morning beckons in the distance. But even the sparkle of the Morning Star that lightens the sky can’t make your dreams crash to Earth.”

Any old ring can quickly become more in the care of a writer. A writer needs to help the reader both see the object and feel the emotions the object stirs up. That’s the entire job of the writer. And it turns out that describing jewelry is a great exercise for an inspiring writer. It doesn’t hurt when said writer has a good friend who just happens to sale jewelry. After all, if I can’t stir something in Rachael when she reads what I’ve written about a piece it isn’t a good description.